Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Oct. 20, 2010

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 12 Nov 2010 01:59

Thas why it looks like a self inflicted blow to get US sympathy. Seems waste of 1000kg maal. Took out the janitors, clean-up crew etc.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Nov 2010 02:10

ramana wrote:Thas why it looks like a self inflicted blow to get US sympathy. Seems waste of 1000kg maal. Took out the janitors, clean-up crew etc.

Connect this with Mushy visit and media reports in US about this 'incident'

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 12 Nov 2010 02:13

Acharya wrote: Connect this with Mushy visit and media reports in US about this 'incident'

Any connection made between this Karachi attack, and the many "disputes" with India that TSP has, the urgency for US to "fix" them (to TSP's satisfaction of course), so TSP can then fight the mighty Al Queda, and we can all live happily ever after.

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 12 Nov 2010 02:31

anupmisra wrote:
shynee wrote:In pictures: Karachi blast
All I see are SDRE-types...

Karachi is mohajir SDRE. 2nd class citizens.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Nov 2010 02:45

Acharya wrote:
ramana wrote:Thas why it looks like a self inflicted blow to get US sympathy. Seems waste of 1000kg maal. Took out the janitors, clean-up crew etc.
Connect this with Mushy visit and media reports in US about this 'incident'

Bhai Log: we may be onto something here. A true paki-style kanspiracee to garner US sympathy!

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 12 Nov 2010 02:55

abhijitm wrote:Bomb blast at CID building, at least 10 killed

Gunman first opened fired on the office of the Crime Investigation Department before detonating a massive car bomb, said Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza. The building has a detention facility that was believed to be holding criminals, and possibly militants.

Now makes a little more sense?

This was an ISI hit, directly masterminded. Nothing to do with TTP.

Firing in the air for 10 minutes (!) before the blast, was to minimize collateral 72-ing of aam Abdul, by scaring away most local civilians. The guys firing the weapons in the air for 10 minutes felt confident that nothing would happen to interrupt their operation, no cops/shops would arrive and try to stop them... because directives had already been issued by ISI to let the hit proceed.

And the reason for the hit was to get rid of whoever was being held in the detention facility, before they could be identified and handed over to the Americans to spill some uncomfortable beans. CID (under civilian control) must have not realized the implications of who they had picked up, and might have been innocently preparing to hand them over to the Americans. There are a lot of people around Karachi whom the ISI doesn't want to see delivered into US hands, or playing a role in the ongoing Karzai-Talib (TSP not included) negotiations.

The way I see it, some people got Baradar-ed in Karachi today.

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 12 Nov 2010 02:59

^^^
This is an open and shut case of ISI releasing its brothers using the hit. I would not read more about it.

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 12 Nov 2010 03:00

^^^

Any report of anyone getting "released"? The building was *destroyed*. It is absurd to think that this was some kind of jailbreak/escape attempt.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 12 Nov 2010 03:12

No he means parlok sidhare!

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 12 Nov 2010 03:14

We may know that slowly but it is the mosque inside the complex that was destroyed and there is no mention of the jails destroyed. My belief is because of very low death for such a huge explosion. The explosion creates a huge cover to do whatever you want.

By the way the following news gives some credibility that the blast was to "release" and not to kill

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 10_pg12_10
‘CID police knew about the blast beforehand’

KARACHI: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) police had warned the high-ups about a possible attack on the CID office a couple of weeks ago, Daily Times learnt on Thursday.

A CID official, who wished to remain anonymous, disclosed that some culprits arrested a couple of weeks ago had revealed during the course of investigation that an attack on the CID office was being planned. The terrorists carried out the attack as planned, the official added.

It is pertinent to mention here that two stolen police mobiles could be used in terrorist activities. staff report

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Nov 2010 03:29

Muppalla wrote:^^^
This is an open and shut case of ISI releasing its brothers using the hit. I would not read more about it.

Adding more masala to this C-grade movie, apparently "TTP" claimed responsibility for the attack with in a few minutes of the blast. They usually take a day or more. My guess is the ones who got killed are mostly the safai karamcharis (usually minorities) and low level abduls manning the gates.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 12 Nov 2010 03:38

CID office blast kills 20 in Karachi

....
The intensity of the blast was so severe that it was heard in a 15-kilometre radius, destroying many of the high rises and shanty settlements in its path. The blast left a 10 to 15 feet wide crater at the spot. According to bomb disposal experts around 1,000kg explosive was used in the blast filling the entire area with smoke.

Witnesses and police said the building collapsed trapping people under the rubble.

The red zone also include the CM House, Governor House, Qaiser Naz, three luxury hotels, the US Consulate and government offices.

City Police Chief Fayyaz Laghari told Daily Times that a truck loaded with explosives managed to penetrate the security checkpoints of the CID operation’s office after an intense exchange of fire. The police chief termed the incident a reaction to arrest of terrorist affiliated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that the CID made the day before (Wednesday). The gunmen first resorted to heavy firing on the office of the CID before detonating a massive explosive-laden truck, Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza told journalists at the site of explosion. He said that the blast was similar to the blast at the Marriott in Islamabad.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak told journalists that a truck bearing a Peshawar registration number reached the main gate of the CID building, where at least 20 suspects came out from the truck and started firing for at least 10 minutes. Later, they threw crackers inside the CID building, killing the security guards deployed at the main gate.

The provincial police chief said the terrorists later entered the premises of the building and detonated the vehicle. He said that due to the blast, the residential area around the CID office was also severely damaged. The IG could not confirm whether any of the attackers had died in the explosion, but said that senior officials of the CID managed to survive the incident.

The building has a detention facility that was believed to be holding criminals and possible militants. “We heard different rounds of firing for several minutes and then a deafening explosion,” said a witness covered in dust. “The roof of our house collapsed.”

A police constable, who survived the attack, said the entire operation was so swift that the police had no time to react. “The terrorists blew their truck by the time we reached our guns to fight them off,” he said without giving his name.
....

...

The CID had recently arrested a top commander for Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Yousuf alias Qari was arrested with weapons and ammunition in Orangi Town’s Mominabad area and was being interrogated by the CID, according to a Dawn report published last week.

....

So its not soosai attack! No raisins.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Nov 2010 05:24

List of IED Mubaraks in Pa'astan in 2010

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 12 Nov 2010 07:06

anupmisra wrote:List of IED Mubaraks in Pa'astan in 2010

Total 390 events
133 in FATA
44 in Peshawar (115 in NWFP, now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
32 in Quetta (Total 89 in Balochistan)
13 in Lahore (18 in Pakjab)
6 in Karachi (13 in Sindh)
2 in Islamabad (Pakjab)
1 in Rawalpindi (Pakjab)

Ony 21 out of 390 (5%) were in Punjab and Sindh that make up 80% of Pakistan's population
95% of these events were in Balochisan, NWFP and FATA that make up only 20% of the population.

No wonder Pakis do not feel badly affected. They feign distress only to beg.

Total deaths from these events is just 1300 or so. 250,000 kids die of diarrhea in Pakistan every year. Average Karo Kari killing is over 10,000 per year. For Pakistan terrorism is a mere tool for begging and pretending that terrorism is OK in India because all of South Asia has terrorism. Terror deaths in Pakistan is peanuts. The number of events is large though.

arun · Post by **arun** » 12 Nov 2010 08:27

X posted from the Persecution of Minorities in Pakistan thread.

In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, non Muslims are reminded yet again of their lowly status as Dhimmi’s :

Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Nov 2010 08:44

Lasbela land may be sold to an Arab family

Thousands of acres of precious land in Lasbela district along the Coastal Highway may be quietly sold out to a noted family of a foreign country, said Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, in an exclusive talk with this correspondent. However, an official of the Balochistan government told The News that proceeds of sale of the land would be used for the development of the province.

“If tomorrow someone comes up with an attractive price for entire Balochistan, does this mean we should go after the money,” was the reaction of Bhootani when told about the provincial government’s stance that the money earned by the sale of the land would be used for eradication of poverty and deprivation from the province.

He also appealed to the government of the UAE not to allow such a development to take place, as they had been great well-wishers of the people of Pakistan.

“The chief minister is faced with a Catch 20 situation after strong voices against the sale of land were raised but the pressure from the President’s House and Prime Minister’s Secretariat for the deal was also intense,” the source maintained.

However, the source privy to the developments explained that the Arab family wanted to turn the proposed land into a hunting tract after being granted the ownership rights.

Catch 20? Is that a new paki phrase?

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 12 Nov 2010 08:48

^ typo onlee.... should have been catch-72.

Pakistan briefly detains US man at airport

Pakistani police on Thursday briefly detained a 70-year-old American who runs a missionary school after discovering bullets in his luggage at Lahore airport, police said.

The US citizen was detained after 30 rifle cartridges were discovered in his luggage at the airport, where he was travelling to Dubai.

He told interrogators the cartridges were in his luggage because he had packed "in haste", Kazmi said.

The man was allowed to leave the country, but could face charges upon his return, Kazmi said.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 12 Nov 2010 09:31

Anup, Zardari took his 10% from Catch 22 to get Catch 20 in TSP.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 12 Nov 2010 09:52

Not fair, They cannot change old expressions and invent new expressions for use in engrazi.

It leaves this boor SDRE with a kamplex.

kidoman · Post by **kidoman** » 12 Nov 2010 10:17

ramana wrote:Anup, Zardari took his 10% from Catch 22 to get Catch 20 in TSP.

Nice one Ramanaji..A nice start to my day in office.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 11:05

ramana wrote:Anup, Zardari took his 10% from Catch 22 to get Catch 20 in TSP.

Superb !

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 11:08

Not so beautiful from this angle - Ejaz Haider in The Hindu

The same wailing as to why the US and the world must treat Pakistan as equally as India. It ends with the assertion that Pakistan will not stop terrorism against India.

The ending piece alone herebelow

India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, during the joint press conference, said: “We are committed to engage Pakistan ... But it is our request that you cannot simultaneously be talking and at the same time the terror machine is as active as ever before. Once Pakistan moves away from this terror-induced coercion, we will be very happy to engage productively with Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues.”

Well said. Once again, without contextualising things, we get into this chicken and egg problem in terms of cause and effect. But the words of Salvador de Madariaga, once chairman of the League of Nations Disarmament Commission, may form good advice in terms of direction of causality in most affairs, not just disarmament:

“The trouble with disarmament was (and still is) that the problem of war is tackled upside down and at the wrong end ... Nations don't distrust each other because they are armed; they are armed because they distrust each other. And therefore to want disarmament before a minimum of common agreement on fundamentals is as absurd as to want people to go undressed in winter. Let the weather be warm, and they will undress readily enough without committees to tell them so.”

Let the weather be warm and we can all enjoy the sunny beach.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 12 Nov 2010 11:30

SSridhar:

Apart from the brazen sense of entitlement that some everybody must treat TSP as India's equal, he is lying and doing an equal equal on terror. No terror from TSP side, India won't have the time of the day fro TSP.

partha · Post by **partha** » 12 Nov 2010 11:39

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 912291.cms
Getting ready for next gen GUBO?

csharma · Post by **csharma** » 12 Nov 2010 11:39

That brazen sense of entitlement can be explained by Mughalitis. I cannot find any other rational explanation.

Btw, this constant refrain of stable, prosperous Pakistan is in India's interest needs to be countered. India should say terrorist free Pakistan is in India's interest regardless of whether it is prosperous or not.

I was watching some Pakistan Tv programmes on Youtube and some of the people were saying "how can India think of being prosperous without us being prosperous. Don't they get it. Obama gets it. India can be prosperous only if Pakistan is prosperous". OK, India, now you are getting prosperous, so make us prosperous else I will become a terrorist. That seems to be the message.

partha · Post by **partha** » 12 Nov 2010 11:41

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/telli ... n/709949/0

Now that the US president has taken a clear stand on terrorism, Kashmir, Afghanistan, the Af-Pak issue and not leaving Afghanistan to the mercies of Taliban, it is obvious that he must have a strategy other than pumping money into Pakistan and giving them additional military aid. While it is widely highlighted that if the war in Afghanistan continues into 2012 and the US continues to incur casualties, Obama will end up as a one-term president, most of our analysts do not go into the question of whether his chances of re-election will improve if he loses the war and withdraws from Afghanistan. He has promised to visit Pakistan next year.Will he be visiting a country whose army frustrates him through its double-crossing? His visit to India proved that he plays his cards close to his chest. The US has stepped up its drone attacks on the tribal territory manifold in the recent months. The jihadi terrorist attacks in Pakistan have also increased, the latest being on the mosque in Dara Adamkhel inflicting 90 fatalities.The aid promised to Pakistan is not likely to be sanctioned by the US Congress unless the Pakistani army falls in line with US demands to act in North Waziristan. In the recent strategic dialogue in Washington, President Obama himself is reported to have given a piece of his mind to General Kayani.The winter conditions may restrict movements in snow-clad mountainous areas, but will not adversely affect the capabilities of drone aircraft.

President Obama is due to carry out the next review of the Af-Pak strategy in December. One wonders whether his pronouncements in Delhi are a prelude to his shaping that strategy and also a way of making clear to people like General Petraeus where he stands on various issues like the Indian presence in Afghanistan and settlement with the Taliban. Our analysts should concentrate more on what will happen as the US drones further step up attacks on North Waziristan and the jihadis increase their attacks on Pakistani civilian targets. The developments in the next six months in the Af-Pak area are far more crucial than the five-year economic and military aid to Pakistan. A lot depends on General Kayani. While Pakistani generals, faced with reality, have been known to come to terms with it, Pakistani civilians like Jinnah and Bhutto behaved irrationally. Gandhi offered Jinnah prime ministership of India and he rejected it and chose to be the Quaid-e-Azam of a moth-eaten Pakistan. Bhutto chose to break up Pakistan to become the leader of one part. It is now for Kayani to make the choice.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 12 Nov 2010 12:31

Hafiz Saeed speaks at LHC Bar Association

Ameer Jamaatud Dawa Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said that Obama’s visit to India was part of a conspiracy against Pakistan and China. “America wants India to stand against China, but India will never comply as it has been exploiting America,” said Saeed. Saeed expressed his views, on Thursday, while addressing a seminar organised by Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) at the Karachi Shuhada Hall.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 12 Nov 2010 12:35

While major culling of animals are going on, minor reductions in terrorist population should not go unnoticed:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 010_pg7_13

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Nov 2010 12:48

csharma wrote:
I was watching some Pakistan Tv programmes on Youtube and some of the people were saying "how can India think of being prosperous without us being prosperous. Don't they get it. Obama gets it. India can be prosperous only if Pakistan is prosperous". OK, India, now you are getting prosperous, so make us prosperous else I will become a terrorist. That seems to be the message

Apart from the brazen sense of entitlement that some everybody must treat TSP as India's equal, he is lying and doing an equal equal on terror. No terror from TSP side, India won't have the time of the day fro TSP.

.

There is another thing which is also noticed. These Pakistanis consider themselves 'Indians' in the sense they are not inside India but they are entitled to all the good things which given to Indian elite. They complain and demand from US as if they own India and Indians. US has shown that it will comply and also pull India behind to make sure that Pakistan is not lagging behind. This has been going more strong from 1977 onwards.

The concept here is that US on behalf of Pak has embargoed India and US has contained India from growing for more than 30-40 years 1960-2000. Pak is part of this policy and it will decide how this will change with India conceding to their demands for talks and then India will be allowed to prosper. How is that India has escaped from the hold of US and Pakistan containment of India. India has not complied to the diktats of Pak sponsored and US executed containment of India for 40 years. This is what they believe and this is seriously true in their eyes.

Now US is responsible for changing this ground rule and working with India now due to the large market. US has betrayed Pakistan even though US had promised Kashmir to Pakistan. US has even though promised that nothing much has changed and they still support Pakistan with military assistance and grants for the last 10 years and more (execpt for the brief period of 1989-2001 which is a blunder) Pakistan feels that India is on a path to become rich and a super power. How can this be allowed. The only way to stop this is more incidents and attacks on India and keep the pressure on India. Pakistan may have to decide soon to start and declare war on India the eternal enemy so that it will never prosper without itself also getting benefit.

James B · Post by **James B** » 12 Nov 2010 14:14

More women respected in Pak than India: report

DDM did it again

. These guys lack skills of interpreting statistics.

Compared to India, a higher percentage of women in Pakistan feel they are treated with respect, says a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report.

According to the report, 81 per cent women in Pakistan are treated with respect as compared to 79 percent in India. Even Bangladesh - with 86 per cent - fares better on this index than India.

I wonder how TSP even got 81% where raped women victims are eliminated from their jobs, where unfaithful women are buried deep under the ground and stoned (Karokari), where 4 witnesses are required to prove a women's rape . Must be some of their 'shortcut' statistics.

This video indeed shows the respect TSP wimmen have for their men.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 12 Nov 2010 14:47

said Saeed. Saeed expressed his views, on Thursday, while addressing a seminar organised by Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) at the Karachi Shuhada Hall.

What kind of State is it whose Bar association hosts a wanted criminal like Saeed? India should now realize Dossiers are not going to help one bit.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 15:55

harbans wrote:
said Saeed. Saeed expressed his views, on Thursday, while addressing a seminar organised by Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) at the Karachi Shuhada Hall.
What kind of State is it whose Bar association hosts a wanted criminal like Saeed? India should now realize Dossiers are not going to help one bit.

Harbans, India should have realized that even before when the Lahore High Court, while hearing the case against Prof. Hafeez Saeed saheb, asked the Government of Pakistan why Pakistan should take action against Professor saheb because of a UNSC resolution when India has not honoured another UNSC resolution on J&K for 60 years.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 16:03

Acharya wrote:There is another thing which is also noticed. These Pakistanis consider themselves 'Indians' in the sense they are not inside India but they are entitled to all the good things which given to Indian elite. They complain and demand from US as if they own India and Indians.

Acharya, that sense of entitlement comes from the 'ruling class' mentality that is claimed to stretch back for a thousand years. It was the reason that Pakistanis feel that the British, who usurped India from the Mughals, should have handed over India back to the Muslims who were the rightful heirs rather than to a bunch of political leaders almost all of whom were Hindus. Jinnah even contested referring to India as 'India' because the Indus belonged to the Pakistanis and they were the Indians.

There is no way a Pakistani mind can be made to see reason. It is a sheer waste of time doing that. Pakistan will remain implacably inimical to us.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 16:31

NUGGETS

When Nawaz Sharif cried

Daily Nawa-e-Waqt reported that Nawaz Sharif had tears in his eyes (abdeeda) when he saw a placard showing Dr Aafiya Siddiqi behind bars in America. The paper also reported that Americans had repeatedly asked Pakistan to have a treaty of exchange of prisoners. Under such a treaty, Aafiya could finish her 86-year sentence in Pakistan.

Who punished Dr Aafiya?

According to Nawa-e-Waqt, it was Musharraf and ISI chief General Ehtesham who surrendered Aafiya to the Americans in return for a lot of money that was placed on her head. On the other hand, Express (25 Sept 2010) quoted Aafiya’s sister Fauzia as saying that the Americans were not keen on punishing Aafiya but that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Ambassador Hussain Haqqani had requested the prosecutors to give her exemplary punishment. Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistanis and Americans were both involved in punishing Aafiya Siddiqi.

Make Jinnah Cap compulsory!

Chief Editor of Nawa-e-Waqt Majeed Nizami said that the government should introduce the two-nation theory in the Constitution and make Jinnah Cap official, so that all employees of the government serving in Pakistan and abroad should wear it. He said those who sold Dr Aafiya should be cursed (Khuda ki Laanat).

Losing honour at Wahga border

Daily Jinnah reported that Pakistan had given permission for free transport of Indian goods to Afghanistan through the Wahga border in Lahore, but the most humiliating aspect of this was that Pakistani labourers were made to offload Indian goods from Indian trucks and load them on trucks on the Pakistani side. Thus Pakistanis were reduced to being load-bearers (pandi) of India, which was dishonourable.

Child star Zardari acted in a flop movie

Reported in Jinnah, Zardari acted as a child film star in Manzil Dur Nahin, made by a brother-in-law of his father Hakim Ali Zardari. The film was shown in 1968 but was a flop. Had the film succeeded, Zardari would have been a great actor like President Reagan. Another politician, Abdul Ghafoor Chaudhry, now a minister in Punjab, acted as an extra with the great Punjabi villain-hero Sultan Rahi. Prime Minister Gilani has recently been offered a role by Angelina Jolie.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 16:35

GUP SHUP

Security & The Four Seasons

Every time Mush comes to the US , he asks for a security detail. His political office in the US makes requests to the State Department and their case is that Mush’s life is at risk in the US. For the third time running, Mush’s request has been turned down, with the US government declaring that in their assessment, there is no danger to him in the US. On his current trip, Mush is staying at the 5-star, uber expensive Four Seasons Hotel in Washington DC. This has prompted articles in the American press, comparing him to Mr Thaksin, the deposed Thai billionaire politician who conducts his opposition politics from safe havens in the West and via the internet.

Magic wand

For all his detractors, our man in DC, better known as H.E.H.H., has been successful in establishing unprecedented access to various power centres in the US government. Last month, during the strategic dialogue between the US and Pakistan , the core group representing our government had an unexpected audience with President Obama . This was not part of the original script and the core group members – the Foreign Minister , Defence Minister and Army Chief – were expecting a scheduled meeting with the US National Security Advisor at the White House. But enter HH and his magic wand. He contrived it so that President Obama would drop in unannounced at the meeting and converse directly with Pakistan’s core group, along with the NSA. This duly happened – to the core group’s surprise – and they discussed matters one on one with the President for more than half an hour.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 12 Nov 2010 16:36

^^^ nuggets seem to be from hashish induced dreams... aaal eez vell in paquistan i see

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Nov 2010 17:50

A Tale of Two Narratives by Najam Sethi in TFT

There are two narratives that define Pakistan’s national security. One is the anti-India paradigm that underpins the powerful anti-civilian corporatization of the Pakistani military. The other is the Af-Pak paradigm. {But, the second narrative is only to reinforce the first narrative. Therefore, there is only one narrative which is to destroy India}This is a consequence of an-ethno-Islamist civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s that culminated in the establishment of a Pakistan-backed Taliban-Al Qaeda regime in Kabul in 1997. The overlapping of these two narratives since 9/11 has created a politico-military crisis in the region that is taking a heavy toll of Afghan, Pakistani and American lives and threatening to spill over into India and China.

Significantly, though, both narratives are riddled with holes and propaganda. That is why we have so many problems and so few solutions. Consider.

India does not pose a security threat to Pakistan. All Indo-Pak military conflicts were triggered or provoked by Pakistan. And each was used by the military to manufacture layers of domestic consent about a perpetual and heightened “security threat” from India in order to confirm the military as the pre-eminent political player and corporate entity of Pakistan.

The second narrative led to the theory of “strategic depth”. It enabled Pakistan to set up training bases in Afghanistan for Pakistani jihadis for the liberation of Kashmir. Inevitably, the two narratives merged seamlessly in Kargil in 1999.

But 9/11 put paid to this grand anti-India, strategic depth narrative. The ISI miscalculated when it ignored the developing regional and international threat from Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, despite the American Cruise Missile attacks in 1998. The ISI miscalculated again when it actually encouraged Mullah Umar to defy the USA and provoked an American invasion of Afghanistan and the installation of an anti-Pakistan, secular regime in Kabul dominated by Tajiks and Uzbeks. It miscalculated a third time when it decided to allow “safe havens” in North Waziristan for its fleeing Taliban “assets” and Al-Qaeda in the expectation of re-launching them after the US left Afghanistan sooner than later. But the US has dug its heels in Afghanistan and spent a trillion dollars in the process. All these mistakes have added up to the creation of the Tehreek I Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that is aggressively waging war with Pakistan and threatening to overrun the NWFP.

It is the introduction of this new factor of the Pakistani Taliban that has made for a desperate and dramatic paradigm change in Af-Pak from Pakistan’s point of view. From the soft notion of an anti-India “strategic depth” based on a limited and dependent Talibanisation of Afghanistan, the paradigm has been transformed into a desperate, existential struggle to save Pakistan itself from the powerful virus of Al-Qaeda infected Talibanisation in the area.

At this juncture, the Pakistani military had two options. It could have unequivocally joined forces with America to crush all Taliban-Al-Qaeda networks, especially in FATA. But it hasn’t done this for several reasons. It fears that such a course of action would eventually lead to the strengthening and consolidation of the pro-India Karzai regime. This could renew Afghan encroachments upon Pakistan’s Pashtun areas. It could also become a launching pad for Indian proxies seeking to destabilize Balochistan. It could translate into hard strategic gains for India, given the budding strategic relationship between India and America in South Asia and the increasing Indian footprint in Afghanistan, by stressing economic markets, trade, gateways and pipelines, thereby integrating Pakistan’s economy into that of India and reducing the military’s corporate stranglehold over civil society and politics in Pakistan.

Therefore the military has chosen a two-track policy. This is aimed at eliminating the TTP while protecting the Afghan Taliban from NATO/ISAF so that the conflict in Afghanistan is extended and America is pressurized to devise an exit strategy that takes into account Pakistan’s true fears about an Al-Qaeda infected Taliban leftover in Pakistan without making it subservient to, or dependent upon, India. The composite idea is to compel America to give a ringside seat to the pro-Pakistan Afghan Taliban in any future dispensation in Kabul that fulfils a number of conditions: first, it should encourage the Afghan Taliban to disconnect from Al-Qaeda and redeem their original sin of 2001 when Mulla Umar refused to abandon Osama Bin Laden; second, it “balances” the ethnic factor in Afghanistan without endangering Pakistan by claiming its Pashtun areas across the Durand Line; third, it promises an Afghanistan that is not hostile to Pakistan; fifth, it cuts off the ideological, physical and financial lifeline to the TTP and Al Qaeda; and sixth, it enables Pakistan to fashion a “live and let live” policy with India which helps to build trust and resolve outstanding disputes.

America’s “exit strategy” from Afghanistan therefore assumes critical importance. If America insists on looking at the Taliban and Al Qaeda as the joint problem, then the war in Afghanistan will drag on, exhaust and demoralize America and even conceivably spill over at any time into an Indo-Pakistan conflict. But if America and Pakistan were to join hands in prying apart the Afghan Taliban from al-Qaeda by giving the Afghan Taliban a hot seat in Kabul and then going after Al-Qaeda and the TTP, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for everyone.

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 12 Nov 2010 18:00

SMQ is back

India not yet fully eligible to enter UNSC club: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday that despite the US support India needed to cover a lot of ground before realising its ambition of becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, Mr Qureshi used Persian phrase ‘Hanuz Dilli Door Ast’ (Delhi is still far away) in response to a question about the expansion of Security Council and the American support for the Indian bid.

read as pakis still control rest of the world so India cannot take it for granted.

Mr Frattini urged India to hold dialogue with Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute.
He said he had during his stay in Pakistan raised the issue of alleged abuse of blasphemy law against religious minorities.

He said Italy was offering 81 million euros in aid, but for that Pakistan needed to identify priorities for utilisation.

Looks like pakis havent show him the list of tanks, drones, submarines and fighters they are looking to fight flood and poverty.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Nov 2010 18:05

SSridhar wrote:
ramana wrote:Anup, Zardari took his 10% from Catch 22 to get Catch 20 in TSP.
Superb !

In that case Zardari should claim 10% commission on all the 72 raisins that each soosai bumwallah gets when he reaches the pearly gates. "Hey!! how come I get only 65 peachy bottom raisins? Who ate my other 7?"

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 12 Nov 2010 18:14

Acharya wrote:These Pakistanis ....complain and demand ....as if they own India and Indians.

Here's a pointer from Hajjam Sethi himself why the porkis feel so: Hindustan Hamara. Enjoy the other three parts as well.